OPEN Sustains and Grows

T’is the season of giving and gratitude, and OPEN says “Thank you!” to all of the partners and supporters who shared their time, resources, skills and energy with us this year. With your support we brought hundreds of community members to the public education conversation through events, advocacy and outreach. We’re here to bring real talk to real issues and connect people to policy in ways that are accessible, timely and useful — but we couldn’t have done it without you. And most importantly, because of you, we were able to do this work as a truly independent, community-based advocacy organization. Thank you for sustaining and renewing critical advocacy work like...

The Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) has honed over 30 Louisiana professionals and students into federal, state and local education policy champions. Passionate Fellows from New Orleans to Lafayette have used their EPFP journey to create new policy thinking that drives equity across the education landscape in addition to exploring topics such as ethics in policy making, racial and gender equity, and the relationship between federal and state education policy. We’d like to give a special thank you to some of our esteemed speakers including Jan Moller (Louisiana Budget Project), Dr. Brian Beabout (UNO), Dr. Rashida Govan (New Orleans Youth Alliance), Dr. Renee Akbar (Xavier University), Dr. Lamar Gardere (The Data Center), Linetta Gilbert (Gilbert & Associates), Senator Wesley Bishop (D-LA), New Orleans City Councilpersons Cyndy Nguyen (District E), Jared Brossett (District D), and Joseph Giarrusso III (District A), as well as to our hosts at the Louisiana State Capitol, Louisiana Department of Education and the Jones Walker Law Firm, LLC and the Washington, D.C. offices of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R) and Rep. Cedric Richmond (D).

 In 2012 OPEN assumed leadership of the Early Development Instrument, an international child development and kindergarten readiness assessment. This was the first community-based data initiative of its kind in the city that mapped kindergarten readiness and childhood development by neighborhood and zip code. This data continues to illuminate the areas where childhood investments are most impactful, and allow advocates to work with local policymakers — including community leaders, parents, elected officials, faith leaders, advocates and schools — to bring child development activities to neighborhoods and align community goals with local policy. The EDI was a major lift, requiring the coordination and training of dozens of schools and hundreds of education professionals to understand the EDI and administer the assessment to thousands of kindergartners over a 3-month time frame (yikes!). Coordinating a data collection effort across a decentralized school system is no small feat. Understanding the need to continue collecting, analyzing and activating this data (and not being ones to give up), OPEN is excited for the next phase of bringing early childhood information to the people and into policy. Currently the Louisiana Department of Education collects similar data statewide. Districts can now choose a standard kindergarten assessment — the DRDP-K — which is similar to the EDI and widely used in New Orleans. In partnership with local and state agencies, DRDP-K data is set to fuel updated maps, strategic planning and advocacy. Many thanks to our partners who helped collect and activate the data over the years, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Baptist Community Ministries, Institute for Mental Hygiene, the Grade Level Reading Campaign, the Data Center (through its New Orleans Youth Index), the Louisiana Policy Institute, the Mary Amelia Center at Tulane University and the Center for Healthy Children, Families and Communities at UCLA. Stay tuned for updates in 2020!

From the community to City Hall: PLTI transitions to the Mayor’s Office of Youth and Families